All posts by Jane

Hi everyone,

This spring I had translated some passages from the book of Torpedine, RICOMINCIO DAI TRE, and, seeing your great interest, I immediately translated the chapter about the night in which Ignazio did not return to the hotel.

For fear of having some copyright problem, I wrote several messages on the Facebook page of Michele Torpedine, LA TORPEDINIERA, asking permission for publication. I have repeatedly asked for an answer but I have never had any, until September 7th.

I received this response from the Torpedine staff:

“Good morning, Daniela, the wait – as you might have guessed – derives from business reasons. However now we refer to Michele. Thank you. -Staff”

Since then I still waited in vain, and because in my last message I had reported that I would have posted anyway, I would say that, if there was a problem posting the story, they would have communicated it to me.

I leave the post as I had set it a few months ago.

We started to get to know the manager of IL VOLO a little better and we really liked what we read.

The book RICOMINCIO DAI TRE, we recall that it was written by Michele Torpedine and published by Pendragon and distributed by LaFeltrinelli.

The piece that I’m going to translate this time, speaks of the night in which Ignatius did not return to the hotel, the anxieties, the concerns of a manager, but also a great friend. Naturally I await your comments and impressions.

A leap forward. Some time after. At night. A drama in which waiting is the solution.

I am in a big city in the United States where my last new artistic creature – IL VOLO– is going to perform in one of the prestigious concerts of their first American tour. Just a few hours before we joked in a restaurant with the euphoria of the successes already collected, with that contagious good humor that the three boys of IL VOLO have never abandoned, in spite of a sense of responsibility necessary but almost excessive, considering that in their peers it is rare commodity.

But that very responsibility in which I trusted so much, that night has cheated me.

I should not have condescended on a tour of the city with friends known the day before.

To think that, in spite of my suspicious nature, they had seemed right to me.

Instead Ignazio has not returned to the hotel. His cell phone is off.

The night goes forward and no news. Nothing at all.

Piero and Gianluca, tired of the evening, left him a few hours ago alone with other friends around public places, a few drinks, some girls.

The three of IL VOLO are very young and in themselves, it could be normal.

In my case, of course, there was the managerial responsibility for the engagement with an audience of about 10,000 people.

But perhaps it was only a question of staying apprehensive for a while and at most making him a stern rebuke when he returned, as his father would have done.

But it is already three o’clock at night. The city is large and unknown.

Ignazio is seventeen years old. Everything makes us think of the worst.

Start the process of pragmatics with my staff: we look in the hospitals, let’s go to the police.

No news. good news, say the British, but I’m not calm, for nothing. A part of my mind chases monsters, then makes them disappear, then again materializes them and chases them.

The other part, perhaps to keep steady, retraces the first encounter with Ignazio and his parents, his bold manner of facing the scene, from Gascon, without fear.

Yes, I think, now that I do not know where he is and I am responsible not only for his career, but also for his life: Ignazio is always sure of himself, he always knows how to face everything and everyone.

Different was the meeting with Piero, the oldest of the three, who remembers me a little when I started, when I wanted a career as a musician.

Finally, Gianluca, and the first impression with him, certainly wrong: that aspect of a fragile, emotional boy, contained instead a strong character and very clear and precise ideas.

Meanwhile, no news yet. Needless to worry in advance, but now anger came.

And what to do then? Warn parents or not? Make them worry, at a distance with nothing certain? It was not yet the case.

But the concert? Cancel it? What economic damage would I have gone to?

A part of my mind was milling this, asking and answering, building anguish and erasing it.

But the other part, no.

image M. Torpedine with Il volo -translation of a chapter of his book

While the only solution was the wait, I thought that those three guys determined and prepared, they had saved me from depression and the desire to leave everything.

Three teenagers, yes, but already great, in all respects.

Already great since the first time I saw them.

So my mind returned to that new beginning while I waited for Ignazio. Which fortunately reappeared, after that interminable night.

And in the evening he sang as always, indeed, better than ever: wonderfully.

In this period there will be little new news, and so we often use the time to reviewold videos.

It’s just what I did, and I tried to find videos, which maybe, not everyone has seen, or at least I hope so.

The first video is from 2010. I had seen only small fragments here and there but never everything, and my research had led to nothing, but in these days, thanks to Connie Bruns who tracked and shared, here it is.

“O Sole Mio”, filmed in Taormina, when, going to play a concert there, it was still a dream for our guys. What are you saying? This video has brought good luck !!

But how small they were … and that final hug … very sweet !!

The second video is from 2011, is a medley made in Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur, includes:

IL MONDO

THIS TIME

PAINFULLY BEAUTIFUL

IL MONDO and UN AMORE COSI’ GRANDE a cappella songs

SMILE

2012Spain, RELOJ

2013 concert in Panama.

Someone uninvited, a transvestite, enters the stage during the concert and walks, people laugh, thinking that is part of the show, the guys are amazed at the presence, but continue to sing, as real professionals, as long as someone sends out this person.

2014 During the concert in Mexico they perform with the Mariachi.

HISTORIA DE UN AMOR

2015 From the studios of Radio Rai, CANZONE PER TE.

2016 Washington BEAUTIFUL THAT WAY

2017 Germany LIBIAM DE LIETI CALICI

And after this feast of old videos, I hope to have found some that you had never seen, but anyway, even if already seen, I bet you have re-seen them willingly, is not it?

I suggest you read these wonderful considerations by Maura Pucci on the subject: Il Volo and their fans.

I can not explain the phenomenon “fan of Volo”. Instead, I have feelings certainly to be verified. And these feelings lead me to conclude that it is difficult (nothing is impossible!) to find something similar elsewhere.

There are singers, who fill arenas and stadiums, have a huge but less … cohesive fan, much more diverse. Same thing I have to say, thinking about my children, regarding the world-famous foreign bands, of which they are fans since they were young.

When these bands come to Italy, there is great enthusiasm, ticket hunting, they go to applaud them in other cities, sold out concerts, woe to those who touch them etc … Despite this, my children do not follow and have never followed these bands, in the same way that we follow IL VOLO.

From one concert to another they leave them, they do not think about them in the least.

The fandom de Il Volo is something different and it is also necessary to make distinctions.

In Latin America we find the younger fans who constantly follow their idols, especially on Instagram, which is daily fed by the guys themselves. Their appreciation is manifested above all with smiles and little hearts, also because young people do not like to write ….. In the US and in Italy their audience is different, more adult, musically more prepared and appreciates more the voices that the appearance physical. In the US they heard them sing professionally since they were kids. Effect “infant prodigy”……

But, unlike what they did with Shlrley Temple, they did not abandon them once they grew up, on the contrary … The numerous transatlantic flights on the occasion of the Italian concerts, in particular in Taormina and Verona, are showing that their love is “forever”.

In Italy some of us have known them almost like brats and then they found them already great, others have discovered them in their twenties or so. All of us were struck by sounds now obsolete, melodies and forgotten harmonies, finally true voices. And we all adopted them or we fell in love with them, depending on age ….

The pages dedicated to them have sprung up like mushrooms. I think, that in the world no singer has a number of fan pages superior to IL VOLO and not even in Italy as regards the “our own” singers …. Too bad there are no comparative studies in this sense!

So, it formed a hard hoof of Italian and American fans that follows them on Facebook in a manic and obsessive way and that follows them, if he can, in concerts from one end of the peninsula to the other, not sporadically …. but DAILY .

We always know where they are, with whom they are, where they sleep, what they eat (of this subject we are very well informed …) and if they go to a place without letting us know why, we get angry too …. We are even able to follow the route of their planes step by step when they travel. And we look forward to knowing when they land. We travel with them, we live with them. Let’s make a local mind: is this normal? Does it happen to fans of other singers ?. Personally I can not believe it.

To conclude …… Our attachment to Il Volo, which makes us a permanent fan “in service”, I would call it type,…. morbid / familiar, that is visceral: we feel them part of our affections. In fact, we can not bear to be left without news of them.

Through videos and photos, which fortunately the guys generously do not make us miss, we live in symbiosis with them … It is as if, every day, we put them under a microscope to learn everything about them: nothing escapes us, a look of understanding, a gesture, a grimace, even a sigh.

And all we try to interpret, each according to their sensitivity and their desires. That being the case, the deep feelings that our guys inspire us, it is inevitable that they translate into POETRY, on the part of those who are able to transform emotions into words. Very difficult, in my opinion, to find something similar in fans of other singers.

And you do not think that they, feel suffocated by this our great love for them?

No,they are instead gratified and consoled by all the negative things they undeservedly receive.

Personally, I like to imagine them wrapped in a giant bubble of love, a sort of protection, to proof of the bullets of those who do not love them.

If they did not know they are so loved, they would not be smiling and happy as they are actually our dear Gianluca, Piero and Ignazio !!!

Congratulations Maura, you made a beautiful analysis, in which I find myself, because I am a fan of IL VOLO and I confirm it with pride!

Perhaps not everyone knows that between June and July, our Rose Marie Paliobeis has been in Italy and in particular in Sicily.

Her journey began as a 2 week tour to visit Naples, Sorrento, the Amalfi coast andthen Sicily, but then Rose Marie, let herself be tempted by another tour offered byDario Mirabile, the friend of Piero, and so Rose Marie, after having seen the Amalfi Coast, Naples and Sorrento (where for but a moment she did not see the guys at the Agnes prize), she reached Sicily and what is the first picture she send me?

It is not possible not to recognize Taormina and the Bam Bar !!

She also went on the Volcano Etna where the day before it had snowed and then sent me this message:

” I am in Palermo, I love this beautiful city! We were in Agrigento this afternoon and went to see the Greek temples. We are taking a tour of Palermotomorrow and Monday afternoon I will leave this tour go to Naro. I am tired but ok.”

Ok, Naro is approaching and Piero is in Naro, because in this period he is doing school exams.

And here is the picture that she sends me.

A beautiful photo of RoseMarie in the company of Wendy, Joanie, Suzana, Dario and …….. our beautiful and sweet Piero !!!

I’m so glad she met Piero (even a little jealous), and she confirms that he’s a verykind and caring young man, he finished the exams and everything went ok.

But the meetings do not end here, for the following days, Piero will continue to gotogreet our ladies,atrue gentleman, will spend a little of his time with them.

Here he is in the beautiful photos taken by Suzana Gutierrez of AAIV.

But the thing that RoseMarie told me with such amazement was that Piero remembered very well a gift from her.

” I gave him a bent nail when I saw him in Detroit, it was a good luck piece like the ones Luciano Pavarotti collected and he remembered that I gave it to him in blue box. I was so impressed that he remembered because they receive so many gifts on tour.

We asked about the many gifts they receive, especially t-shirts. They keep some but can’t possibly keep all. They donate others to homeless shelters. “

“He did say they would be touring USA in 2019 but there were no definite dates yet because the manage team is dealing with music, dates, venues etc. He stopped every day to see us, usually at the beach. He was with his friends and family but took time out for us to ask how we were and if we liked Naro. Of course we loved Naro. A small town where everyone knows each other.The other ladies with me have met him before many times but this was my first (hope not the last) time that wasn’t a meet/greet. ”

“He was just a normal down to earth young man, waving to everyone who greeted him as they drove or walked by. He spent time with us at a friend’s house where we learned to make pasta and pizza. So I can’t begin to tell you all how fortunate I was, and to say how lucky we are to have this young man in our lives. May Godkeep these 3 safe, and healthy. May they find true love someday and have families of their own .”

Damn, RoseMarie, this last shot is really amazing, who of us would not like to take a picture with a similar hug?

Yes, you were really lucky, a pity that you could not stop until the concert in Taormina ……. but for that there will be a next time, is not it?

The concerts were memorable, every person who was fortunately able to participate, still has in his eyes the beautiful images and in his ears, the lovely voices of Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca.

The web has been flooded with videos and photos that pass, step by step, every moment of our beloved boys.

There have been moments, however, that I consider exceptional, and have been stopped by a video and a series of photos that I now propose to you.

Here is the short video:

This is the moment before the start of the concert in Taormina.

This is a gesture, that the boys, always make before every concert ……… and it is simply WONDERFUL, this gesture expresses all the friendship, affection and harmony that exists between these guys.

Surely, having grown up together, away from home, has built in them a harmony that not all groups of singers have.

In this mini-tour, there were many small episodes, where the boys, they helped each other, had an altruistic support among themselves, a concrete help of VERYFRIENDS.

I get emotional, every time I see this gesture of theirs, confirming a deep friendship.

And here is the series of photographs taken by Marco Ferriero.

These shots, all performed in Taormina, show all the affection that IL VOLO has towards its fans, you look with how much love, they approach and do not deny a gesture, a photo, a kiss.

Surely these gestures will have sent into raptures these lucky fans, some of them with disabilities, managed to get closer thanks to the fact that, in Taormina there are no barriers before the stage.

Direct contact with Ignazio, Gianluca and Piero, who with great affection embrace the fans, take children in their arms, they come close for shots in the foreground.

But how much sweetness do these shots ??

These guys are certainly artists of great skill, their voices are magnificent, but in them there is also something else that we like, they love people, this affection that hardly they deny to others, and this makes them in our eyes, even more special.

They love people and people reciprocate

This is IL VOLO, these are GIANLUCA, PIERO and IGNAZIO.

Now I translate a part of what my friend Melina wrote and that, in my opinion, has precisely hit the target, to you then the comment.

“The guys in concert in the Greek Theater of Taormina seem to transform themselves, expand into a different and bigger dimension, both in singing and in jokes. They are safer, more passionate, more emotional, more joyful. I wondered: will it be the spirit of the ancient musicians and comedians, who still hovers in the theater and permeates the millennial stones to operate this miracle? To pervade, to seize and to transfigure those who know how to recognize and welcome? Memories, which are not lost but remain impalpable and wait for the right time and the right people to be affected? Who knows !! It is certain that only those who have the appropriate sensitivity can perceive this subtle malia, Piero, Ignazio andGianluca this sensitivity, they have it at will, but also those who follow them: you are “our” audience, our family, they have declared proud at the beginning of the concert. And true, the fans of Il Volo are different from all the others, they have a singular feeling and in addition to admire and esteem the boys artistically, they feel for them a deep sincere affection and a lot of tenderness, this means that the protagonists are not only those on stage, but that everything is a continuous exchange of emotions, emotion and happiness between those who perform and those who assist … indeed no, participate! And at the end when this exchange stops, it’s almost a pain and we start waiting for the next time!”

And here we are at the penultimate concert of this mini-summer tour, takes place in CERVIA, a beautiful town on the Adriatic Sea.

The article related to the concert appeared in the newspapers and IL VOLO said that there will be a surprise at the end of the concert, we’ll see what it is.

Let’s start with the rehearsals of the show.

They’re just back from Miami and they’re about to start a concert, do you think they’re tired or stressed?

I would say no !!

Some short videos of the songs

Sweet shots

In Cervia 3 more songs were sung than in Marostica and exactly: MATTINATA (Idid not find the video), UNA FURTIVA LACRIMA, Ignazio’s solo.

and LA DANZA, Gianluca’s solo. As you can see Gianluca falls the sheet with the words and he for a moment loses the rhythm, and then immediately resume, then perhaps unnerved, forget the words, I bet he remembered but got nervous. In the end, even the conductor embraces him, knowing that Gianluca is a perfectionist, who knows how badly he will have been, the audience also encourages him with a warm applause.

And here we are at the final greetings.

TAORMINA PREPARED, THEY ARRIVE SOON

Taormina, the pearl of Sicily, difficult to break away from such a place.

In this video transmitted to the tele-newspaper, the boys confirm that they are happy to be back in Taormina at the end of their concerts, and especially for aconcert for charity.

The rehearsals of the show begin.

How wonderful is this rift in the wall of the ancient Greek Theater, which allows you to see the volcano Etna and its fumarole in the distance.

This videos that follow were made by Deborah Georgini Beaupre, beautiful !!

AVE MARIA MATER MISERICORDIAE

TONIGHT

MY WAY

CIELITO LINDO

E LUCEAN LE STELLE

IL MONDO

LO CHE NON VIVO

And now these beautiful shots by Judy Paullin Thurman,

Surely it was a wonderful evening.

The wonder of the finale: GRANDE AMORE.

Because Taormina, is a fascinating place, in the Greek Theater, there is an incredible atmosphere, where the beauty of the landscape blends with the stars, the voices of Piero Ignazio and Gianluca rise beautiful, cheered by a thousand applause of adoring people , everything is like magic,the magic of Taormina !!